How to Pick a Domain Name

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By Flip-n-Out
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Pick a Domain Name

Picking a domain name should be easy. Finding one that hasn't already been reserved is much more difficult.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Computer with internet access

Step 1

-= What Kind Do You Want? =-

Decide first what domain extension you want. Do you want a .com, .net, .org? Aside from the many country domain extensions here are your main choices:
.aero[Aviation]
.asia[Asia]
.biz[Business Organizations]
.com[Commercial]
.coop[Co-Operative Organizations]
.edu[Education]
.gov[US Government]
.info[Open TopLevelDomain]
.int[International Organizations]
.jobs[Jobs]
.mil[US Dept of Defense]
.mobi[Mobile devices]
.museum[Museums]
.name[Personal]
.net[Networks]
.org[Organizations]
.pro[Credentialed professionals and related entities]
.travel[Traveling]
Step 2

-= What Should I Choose? =-

A domain name should be easy to remember. Easy to spell. Relate to the intent of your website. Won't create legal problems because of trademark infringement. Pick several options then go shopping.
Step 3

-= Where Can I Buy a Domain Name? =-

If you do a Google search on "domain registration" you will get about 8.2 million pages. Any one of them on the first two pages of the Google results will help you search for your domain. My favorite is listed in the Resource section below. I like it because it shows you as you type if your domain name is available. Pretty cool!

Comments

mad-shirts said

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on 11/20/2008 Also choose a name that's as short as possible--easier for people to remember, and can fit on bumper stickers for your car. I used godaddy and found MAD-SHIRTS.COM for only seven bucks (with promotion code found using google), while many longer and more convoluted names were available for hundreds or even thousands of dollars. You just have to keep brainstorming and trying different simple word combinations.